Problem and Promise
The evidence is clear – Marie Kondo’s inspirational approach to home organization has transformed living spaces around the world for the better. But the average person spends roughly a third of their life at work. Could the KonMari method prove equally transformative for the workspace?
To answer that question,we’ve brought together the key findings from a range of recent articles on the topic, and arranged them into an intuitive guide for applying KonMari to your professional life, from clearing the clutter from your desk to clarifying your career goals.
TL; DR
Here’s the article in a nutshell.
The KonMari method was initially designed for home organization. But it also offers valuable techniques for enhancing productivity and job satisfaction in the workplace. Decluttering individual workspaces, both physical and digital, can lead to improved focus and mental clarity. At an organizational level, applying KonMari principles to office design and workflow organization can create inspiring workspaces and add meaning to work itself.
Focusing on tasks and projects that spark joy can guide your career journey, by promoting fulfillment and purpose. Cultivating gratitude for challenging work experiences can lead to valuable lessons and ultimately contribute to future joy in the workplace. Embracing peak performance by fully immersing yourself in tasks can enhance your enjoyment of your work.
While tidiness has its merits, controlled messiness can also stimulate creativity and innovation, Striking a balance between order and chaos is crucial in promoting a dynamic and innovative work environment.
Now, these were only the highlights.
If you want to learn more about how to spark joy to work with tips from Marie Kondo, stick around.
KonMari Recapped
Let’s say you’ve never heard of Marie Kondo or her KonMari method – meaning you’re not one of the 40 million people and counting who’ve bought her book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and you’ve never watched her Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. Here’s what you need to know:
Marie Kondo is a renowned Japanese organizing consultant, who developed the KonMari philosophy of cleaning and decluttering. Essentially, KonMari encourages us to organize our living spaces through focusing on items that "spark joy." As part of the process, we’re asked to assess our possessions one by one, discarding those that no longer serve a purpose or bring joy. The remaining items are then neatly organized into designated places, where they are “at home”. KonMari aims to create more intentional and harmonious living spaces.
Marie Kondo’s method has sparked a revolution in home organization. But, with a few tweaks, those same KonMari principles can successfully be applied to the workspace. Let’s find out how.
Declutter Your Office to Improve Focus
Sure, a neat desk is nice to look at. But the benefits of having a well-ordered workspace aren’t merely aesthetic. As certified KonMari consultant Amanda Jefferson observes, a cluttered desk is a drain on our time. Paper builds up when we don’t deal with it. An accumulation of paper is a symptom of delayed decision-making. Worse, those piles of paper are exacerbating our tendencies to procrastinate. Simply looking at an overly-cluttered space taxes our mental resources as our brains continuously grapple with the chaos – we become overstimulated and it's impossible to decide what to deal with first.
To tackle paper clutter, Kristyn Ivey, a certified KonMari consultant, proposes a straightforward approach: classify paper into three categories—those requiring action, those needed temporarily, and those essential for the long term. Keep these categories well-organized, perhaps under headings like 'Active Projects,' 'Administrative,' or 'Reference Materials.'
These principles extend to the digital realm as well. A pristine physical workspace won’t positively impact your productivity if your email inbox remains in disarray. Ivey’s categories work well applied to your email inbox, too. To really tidy your digital workspace, though, take some time to filter what alerts, newsletters, subscriptions, and emails you really need to get – ruthlessly block and unsubscribe from any digital communications that aren’t serving you. You’ll be surprised how much more streamlined your inbox will feel.
Feeling inspired to start tidying? Don’t dive in straight away.
Now that you have a clear space, you need clear goals.
Clarify Your Goals
Before embarking on a mission to declutter your workspace or streamline your digital life, it's essential to clarify your motivations. Consider the pain points: Are you spending more time navigating a sea of emails than actually accomplishing tasks? Does your to-do list induce anxiety rather than motivation? Understanding your intentions will serve as the anchor that keeps you committed to your organizational journey.
With your desk, and inbox, free from clutter, you’ve freed up some valuable mental space.You can focus on your work – even better, you can focus on optimizing your work experience, by identifying aspects of your working life you’d like to improve and setting goals to actualize those improvement.
Visualize your ideal workday. Consider the ratio of time spent in collaborative, high-energy sessions versus solitary, focused projects. Reflect on your preferences—answering questions or crafting documentation for discussions? This introspective exercise not only clarifies priorities but also lays the foundation for setting meaningful goals. Goals, unlike vague New Year's resolutions, are specific, measurable, and realistic.
Factor in your capacity and energy levels when defining goals. Realism is key. Whether your aspiration is to ascend to a senior position or attain a healthier work-life balance, quantifying your objectives will help gauge progress. For instance, a metric for the latter could be leaving the office by 5:30 p.m. on 75% of the month's working days. This pragmatic approach ensures that your ambitions remain attainable and sustainable, fostering continuous growth and success in your professional journey.
Declutter Your Organization
Tidying up isn't just about decluttering individual workspaces; it also extends to enhancing organizational dynamics. From decluttering and redesigning your office building to assessing how well different roles are organized and assigned to employees, applying the KonMari philosophy at an organizational scale can bring a host of benefits.
Hina Jamelle, a senior lecturer in architecture, underlines the impact of well-designed office spaces on efficiency and productivity. A thoughtfully organized workspace can foster a sense of calm and inspiration. Her own firm's office exemplifies this concept, with a soothing white palette and strategic placement of functional elements behind minimalist cabinets. Creating an environment that sparks joy and promotes creativity is especially crucial since most individuals spend the majority of their waking hours at work. In particular, Jamelle states that a well-designed workspace can uplift employees' mood and positively influence their body language.
Workspace design should align with the specific needs and goals of an organization. For instance, hierarchical companies may benefit from – literally – flattening their organizational structure to encourage closer collaboration among employees. Think: spacious meeting areas, comfortable seating, and a spatial flow that both facilitates intentional collaboration and spontaneous conversation. These thoughtful design choices not only support the company's objectives but also contribute to a workplace where people are genuinely inspired to come and thrive.
Going beyond the spatial element of workspace design, employers should also consider how roles are assigned and employees talents and capabilities are used. In the KonMari philosophy, an important part of decluttering is ensuring that every object in your space is stored in a home that suits it. You wouldn’t, for example, keep your saucepans in your shoe rack. But are your employees homed in roles that suit them? Amanda Jefferson highlights the importance of tailoring roles to employees' strengths and preferences. Encouraging team members to engage in projects that resonate with their passions can reinvigorate their work experience. Thoughtful organizational design goes beyond superficial morale boosters and finds ways to redesign jobs for increased joy and productivity.
Does Your Work Spark Joy?
Marie Kondo captured the world’s imagination with her unconventional organizational approach – specifically, her rule that our living spaces should only hold objects which ‘spark joy’. A KonMari cleanout involves picking up every item you own – from your blender to your toothbrush – and asking yourself if it sparks a feeling of joy in you. Can this translate to the workspace? Certainly not every email you receive or project you’re assigned will make you feel overcome with happiness. But paying close attention to workspace joy when it does arrive can help you carve a pathway to a job you genuinely love.
Tricia Fidler, a certified KonMari consultant, suggests that what sparks joy or triggers discontent can offer valuable insights for career development. By continually asking why certain tasks or commitments do or don't resonate, you can pinpoint the parts of your work that either energize or deplete you. This introspection allows you to uncover areas that genuinely inspire you and enables you to navigate your working life in the direction of these areas. How do you do this? By saying yes to the tasks which energize you and, as much as possible, declining those which don’t.
If you’re not sure whether or not a commitment aligns with your passion and priorities, it’s time to get acquainted with the concept of the “whole body yes”. When your physical and mental reactions together signal enthusiasm and excitement for a new project, you can feel sure that taking it on is the right call. By paying attention to your emotions—whether they evoke nervousness, annoyance, or excitement—you can gain clarity on whether a new commitment is the right fit.
If a commitment no longer aligns with your goals or leaves you feeling stuck, consider offloading or delegating it. Done thoughtfully, this won’t be an abandonment of your duties – it will create an opportunity for someone else to grow and learn, contributing to their career development. By stepping away from draining, low-value commitments, this newfound time and energy can then be redirected towards high-priority strategic endeavors, fostering career advancement.
In essence, the KonMari method encourages us to declutter not only our physical spaces but also our mental landscape. By being attuned to our emotions, setting priorities, and making deliberate choices about our commitments, we can pave the way for a more fulfilling and purpose-driven career journey.
Cultivate Gratitude
Okay – we’ve spoken about the importance of pursuing work that sparks joy. But let’s be totally realistic here. In our careers, we often encounter situations, colleagues, and tasks that fail to ignite our joy. How can we apply KonMari to these? Well, Marie Kondo doesn’t just suggest that we surround ourselves with things that spark joy. She also suggests that we deepen our relationship with the objects in our living spaces by cherishing and cultivating gratitude for them. The more we engage with our possessions and appreciate the functions they perform for us, the more we can find joy in them. Applying that same philosophy to the workspace, we can learn to appreciate all the experiences, even the challenging ones, that our jobs bring.
If you’ve ever worked a tedious job, or had to deal with a challenging manager, you’ll know that difficult workplace experiences rarely spark joy in the moment. But they might bring joy down the road. Reflect on the lessons you’ve learned from annoying or frustrating work experiences – has clarifying what you do want out of work ultimately brought you more joy, as you move away from those negative experiences? What about now – what lessons are you learning from your current challenges, and could they, perhaps, bring you joy in the future?
No matter what task you’re assigned, you’ll enjoy it more if you can reach a state of peak performance when doing it. Peak performance is a state you can experience when you are fully absorbed in a task – and for many people, it is a state closely akin to joy. So no matter what task you’re given – whether it's reading an accounting spreadsheet or folding a shirt – try and devote all your focus to it. You’ll enjoy it more.
Just as we cherish and find meaning in our possessions, at work we can appreciate the value of our experiences, focus on the present, and ensure we keep sight of our work’s clarity and purpose.
Don't Eliminate Mess Entirely
Now as you know, Marie Kondo is all about tidying, andIt’s great to be tidy… but in the workplace a degree of disorganization is inevitable – it might even be beneficial.
Research by Eric Abrahamson from Columbia Business School suggests there are instances where maintaining a level of disorganization can actually enhance productivity. For example, temporarily tolerating a small mess on your desk related to an ongoing project can be more efficient than constantly stowing away and retrieving materials. These minor messes tend to find their place once the project reaches completion.
Furthermore, Abrahamson highlights the creative advantages of messiness. Disorder can stimulate creativity, prompting us to generate new ideas that don't fit neatly into existing categories. Messy environments often create contrasts that lead to fresh combinations and innovative thinking. So, while tidying up certainly has its merits, in specific situations, controlled messiness can spark productivity rather than hindering it. A decluttered, thoughtfully designed workplace stimulates productivity and creates joy – but a balanced, adaptable approach to workplace mess is equally essential for promoting innovation and creativity.
Conclusion
The KonMari philosophy might be designed for home organization but its key principles translate with surprising success to the workplace. Decluttering your individual desk and digital workspace can bring about renewed focus and mental clarity. At an organizational level, thinking through workspace organization, both in terms of office space and workflows, creates spaces that are inspiring and fulfilling for employees. Paying attention to work that sparks joy can guide your career journey. And learning to cultivate gratitude for the trickier aspects of your work life can clarify your next professional steps. Finally, don’t tidy everything away – a little bit of mess can be productive, too!
Recommendations
We hope this article has left you feeling inspired to declutter and streamline your professional life – and maybe your personal one, too! Whatever part of your life you’d like to tidy up, we recommend turning to insights and inspiration from Marie Kondo herself.
Begin with The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, the book that started it all. This Blink will walk you through the Kondo method, from committing yourself to tidying up to learning how to identify which objects spark joy.
Are you looking to declutter mentally as well as physically? Kondo’s follow-up, Kurashi at Home, shows you how you can incorporate elements of wellness and mindfulness into decluttering, to create a living space that is as spiritually fulfilling as it is aesthetically pleasing.
Joy at Work by Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein takes a deeper look at the strategies and techniques we discussed in this article. And if you want to unlock expert-level organizational skills, Marie Kondo’s Tidy Up Crash Course features a selection of organization books recommended to Blinkist by Marie Kondo herself.
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